Richard, Bob and Paul at the dinner
No-one is entirely sure when it was originally decided to hold a club Christmas dinner but it was about twenty years ago. There wasn’t one in George Stiggers’ time so it is possible that the first was in 1995 which would make this the twentieth. (In fact, a glance at the AGM minutes should reveal all so when the club re-starts in the New Year I shall check.)
Once again, as tradition has it, we assembled at the Charles Dickens overlooking Viking Bay for a drink before wandering down to the Tartar Frigate which has hosted most of our dinners over the years. With the harbour lit up, it is a picturesue sight at Christmas and the Tartar Frigate is cosy and ideal for small parties. Although it is a Broadstairs dinner, we have occasionally invited friends from other clubs and this year Clive Le Baigue from Margate joined twelve Broadstairs members for the meal. As well as the delicious food and wine, crackers and terrible jokes, there were two quizzes – another Christmas tradition – one, a fiendishly difficult chess quiz set by David Faldon, and the other based on the words ‘tartar’ and ‘frigate’ set by Michael Jenkinson.
As was pointed out at the AGM, Broadstairs has enjoyed another successful year financially which enabled the club to subsidise the dinner once again so not only was the evening great fun but it was also a comparatively cheap one. The club will be closed for Christmas next week, re-opening on Monday January 5th.